


Rythian Versus Lalnable

by Kafoomph



Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Clones, Gen, Revenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-30
Updated: 2015-04-30
Packaged: 2018-03-22 01:56:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3710584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kafoomph/pseuds/Kafoomph
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a story of revenge and a battle of wits.</p><p>Rythian's been hard, but not impossible, to find. But then again, Lalnable's about to find out that Rythian had never been trying to hide in the first place.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rythian Versus Lalnable

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if this is overly violent. I had two people pre read this and one proclaimed it 'gross' while the other assured me that it was fine. I have a really hard time gauging what's violent or not when I'm writing.  
> Characters may seem a bit out of character and this story kinda flops itself in the middle of a bunch of series ignoring most of them (Magic police, Flux Buddies, Yoglabs) so it may not actually make much sense. It's supposed to be after the two Lalna's in Flux Buddies and Magic Police have met.  
> Regardless of any confusing parts, I hope you like it.

Lalna stumbled over his own feet in a hurry to get to the hut he'd been keeping watch on for the past week. He needed something to prove to Sjin that he wasn't a dirty double crosser who was helping Nano practice magic. Something that would to prove to Sjin he was dedicated to the Magic Police and he knew exactly what would suffice- Undesirable No. 1. He'd tracked Rythian to a sad little shack after catching a glimpse of purple whilst out wandering, on the hunt for the escapee. He hadn't mentioned anything to Sjin because, well, Sjin hadn't really been sharing things with him. Why should they take down their most wanted criminal together when they weren't working as a team?  
He huffed a little as he waited to see if there were any signs of Rythian being at home. While he waited he considered the small building that his enemy was now living in. It was just a scrap better than the first night hovels that folk generally built when just staring out. He'd expected another castle, at the very least for it to be made of his trademarked basalt. This building was fashioned out of wood, dark spruce wood mind you, but it still was unusual for Rythian to not be using bricks, especially considering how prone him homes were to exploding. Movement at the window broke him out of his reprieve and signalled that his mark was inside.  
He slipped inside without any resistance, coming face to face with Rythian almost immediately as the endermage moved between rooms. There was a brief flicker of surprise followed swiftly by confusion on Rythian's face as he took in the appearance of the person who'd just wandered into his home. A bemused voice questioned, "Hello?"  
Lalna stared him down, "Rythian Enderborn, Undesirable Number One, I am arresting you under suspicion of practising ender magic."  
"Oh." Rythian looked at him with a slight furrow of his brow, as if he was trying to piece something together. "Do you need to search the house.", he offered, gesturing to the room he'd just exited.  
Lalna shot off a quick spell to bind Rythian to the nearest chair, that happened to be in the room he'd just exited- the kitchen- and he allowed himself a small giggle at watching the mage rubberband out of the hallway. Magic was awesome. However he had a job to do and he didn't have time to waste. Calling out a belated, “Thanks, I guess”, Lalna left to explore the house.

There was nothing. No magical artefacts, no real weaponry apart from a chest filled with arrows and a few, vary nice looking bows. If it wasn't for the constant clutter of the kitchen Lalna would have wondered if this house had even been lived in. Going back to check on his prisoner, Lalna was momentarily surprised to find Rythian sitting at the tabletop he'd been bound to now with a half drunk mug of hot chocolate in front of him. Checking that the magical bonds where still in place- they were- he flopped unceremoniously into the adjacent chair and raised a questioning eyebrow at the steaming mug.  
“Oh, sorry. How rude of me.”, Rythian began. “Would you like something to drink?”  
Lalna began to decline before realising that he didn't have anything to lose from a quick informal chat before dragging Rythian to the cells. He watched with a dis-quietened awe as the magical bonds he'd cast bent to the other man's will, allowing him to move freely around the kitchen. A hot mug of coffee, exactly how he liked it, was placed before him on the table. A curious silence filled the room, broken only by the odd gulp of coffee or hot chocolate.  
“How can I help you... ?”, Rythian tailed off at the end, as if asking for an introduction. Lalna wondered if his old enemy had suffered some brain damage in the last explosion he'd been in.  
“You can start by telling me what you're up to Rythian.”, he demanded.  
Rythian tilted his head as he examined the person sitting across from him. “I am expecting someone. I was just readying the house.”  
“Who are you expecting?”, Lalna questioned, wondering if there was a magical meeting of sorts going on.  
Rythian paused. “I was expecting Lalna.”  
“You were expecting me?” Lalna jumped from his chair, disabling spells readied.  
“No, no. I was expecting Lalna. My Lalna, from the old world?”  
“But-”  
“Do you remember that time?”, Rythian cut in, then continued on anyway. “I guess you would. Interesting how the clones share in the master memory.”  
“Clones?”  
“Yes. Yoglabs... Yoglabs discovered cloning technology. There were a few teething issues, but it seems to have worked, for the most part.”  
“So that means, that means he was a clone.”  
Rythian glanced up from his now empty cup, intrigue burning in his eyes. “You met another Lalna clone?”  
Lalna glared at him. “No, I met my clone. He must have been the clone. Why else would he be helping Nano with the flux?” Rythian remained silent. “He must be the clone. But, how to get Sjin to believe me that he's the clone...”  
Rythian coughed. “There are, ways, to tell a clone from the original. You have to know the original pretty well to pick up on the difference though. A good place to start is the eyes, but maybe there's a spell you could use to help.”  
Lalna grinned to himself, forgetting who it was he was talking to. “Of course. Magic will fix this.” Caught up in his thoughts, he rushed from the house, the still bound Rythian the last thing on his mind. Watching the clone depart, Rythian broke the magical bonds with ease and shook his head at how easy it'd been to manipulate Lalna's clone. Realising he'd lost a lot of time, he got back to preparing for his guest.

Carefully placing a quiver full of arrows into a wooden chest carved Teep, Rythian hissed under his breath as an arrow head sliced across the soft flesh of his palm. A small satisfied noise from behind him was the first warning that his expected guest had arrived. Not bothering to turn around, Rythian inspected the wound and greeted his guest in a bored fashion. “Lalna.”  
The satisfied noise turned into one of annoyance.  
“Lalnable Hector.”, the uninvited guest identified himself as. At this, Rythian turned his head to inspect the man standing in his hut. He nodded to acknowledge that he’d heard the blood stained man that was ultimately here to kill him, but made no move to correct himself. Lalnable was irked by this but refused to let it show. Looking around he noticed for the first time the bareness of the little shack he’d forced his way into.  
“Were you expecting me?”, Lalnable asked disappointedly. Rythian nodded but still remained silent. “Aw, I do wish you hadn’t prepared for this. All your worldly possessions packed away into little boxes ready to be collected by the ones you love? It’s too neat.”, the madman sneered.  
Rythian snorted a laugh. “Do you really think they’ll come to collect these?” He waved a hand at the boxes. “This pathetic pile of mushrooms, arrows, ales and buckets? They’ve all moved on Lalna. We’re the ones that are stuck, doomed to repeat our same foolish mistakes.”  
Lalnable flinched a little at the name, but curiosity made him press on. Trying to tear open old wounds he pressed, “You don’t think she’d come?”  
“I don’t think she’d ever know. She's moved on Lalna.”, Rythian stated with little emotion.  
“I never understood that. You and her.”, he pushed further.  
“I was in love.”, Rythian stated. “At least part of you understands that.”  
Lalnable laughed heartily but stopped short at the knowing look on Rythians face.  
“One of you clones, apparently, practices flux magic.”, Rythian explained.  
Lalnable stared at his prey, an unbridled fury storming behind his eyes. “How do you know this?”  
Rythian smiled behind his mask. “Another clone told me.” He decided leaving out the part that the clone who'd told him also practised magic would just complicate things. Lalnable swore, slamming a knife into the wall.  
“Just how many of these fucking things are there?”, the enraged Lalnable hissed. “I swear when I find these fucks I'm going to…”  
Rythian kept silent, letting the deranged Lalna think aloud, wondering what would happen next. The blood stained Lalna sighed, composed himself and straightened up, affecting an air of normality that made Rythian want to laugh. "Where is the clone now?"  
"Which one?", Rythian grinned, knowing it was a very bad idea to prod a psychopath, however the growl it produced from Lalna was totally worth it.  
"Both!", he barked. "Tell me where any clones you know might be."  
Rythian regarded him coolly. "All I know is that one is with Sjin and one is with Nano."  
"Ugh. Practicing magic for a woman.", Lalnable shuddered. "Ah least your whore had tastes.", he sneered, sensing another way to pick at the scabs around Rythian's heart. "Poor little ender mage falling for a tech head."  
Rythian let a sardonic little chuckle escape him. "Yeah, one that got hurt really badly because of me."  
Lalnable smiled widely, but it wobbled a little with uncertainty. He knew Rythian was hurting badly, he could sense it easily, but he hated the idea that he wasn't the cause of it- and honestly, he couldn't be sure that he was. Rythian glanced back towards the chests, a dull ache thrumming through his body. Not a new sensation sure, but unpleasant all the same. A pregnant pause filled the silence before the knife Lalnable had embedded in the wall decided that was the best moment to dislodge itself and clatter to the floor. And while the loud, sudden noise startled both men, Lalnable was the only one who jumped visibly at the intrusion.  
Rythian was closer to the knife and bent down to retrieve it, making Lalnable wonder if the ender mage was going to use it on him. To his surprise, Rythian just looked over the knife with a passing curiosity and handed it back to the blood encrusted intruder. Lalnable cocked his head to the side uncertainly.  
In response to the unasked question, Rythian simply stated, "I was waiting for you, remember?"  
"You want me to kill you?", Lalnable spluttered, growing unsatisfied with the way his game was playing out.  
Rythian laughed, "God no. I don't want you to kill me, I don't want to die. But I know what you're like Lalna."  
"Lalnable."  
"Good or evil there is one defining feature about us both that means that it'll be impossible for me to avoid this.", Rythian continued, blatantly ignoring the correction.  
"I have nothing in common with you."  
"I disagree." Rythian rubbed at his chin, hidden underneath that scarf that seemed painted on at times. "We obsess. Me about my disdain for machines, and you for your love of them. Our bitter rivalry. My love for Zoeya, your clone's love for Nano. Your other clone's love for Sjin and learning. Your bloodlust as it is now. All of these are obsessions, and it's a trait we all share."  
Lalnable spat a mixture of blood and phlegm onto the ground between them, the inside of his cheek bleeding from being chewed on while the ender mage spoke.  
"Enough!", Lalna barked, trying to impose his authority over the other man. "All you've done since I've arrived is stalled. I will not have it."  
"Fair enough.", Rythian replied, moving closer to the madman utterly defenceless, watching him carefully. It was enough for Lalnable to dissolve into a blind rage.  
"Fair enough? Fair. Enough. Why is that your response to everything?" He swung his blade, hacking into Rythian's arm before he yanked it back out with a fair amount of resistance. Blood splattered backwards, tracing the arch of the blade against the wall. He swung again, not caring what he hit.  
"Why do you not react?"  
A nicked rib caused a strange and wet scraping feeling inside Rythians chest that reverberated to his teeth, as if the knife was made of bone too. He repressed a shudder to the best of his ability not wanting to meaninglessly injure himself. Lalna would take care of that.  
"Why are you so fucking calm about this?"  
A slice down the mage's clavicle quickly drenched any white part of his clothing with blood. Another arching swing landed deep, just above the sternum making it very hard to breathe. Blood spewed up the scientists arm and mingled with the ends of his dirty blonde hair, his hacking was growing wild.  
"Why."  
A jab just above the hip bone had Rythian lurch forward. Honestly, he didn't quite know how he had been still standing until then. Lalna brought his knee up to connect with his face but missed and caught Rythian's neck instead, crushing his windpipe and tearing at the earlier cuts he'd inflicted.  
"Can't."  
The knife bounced off his spine in several places as Lalna dug wildly into his flesh, taking care to twist the blade as he yanked it back out through layers of skin and cotton.  
"I."  
Rythian fell forward onto his hands and knees, Lalna crouching low to follow him, forcing his knife into the softness of his rivals stomach, twisting it with a little resistance toward one kidney before dragging it across the abdomen to the other.  
"Hurt."  
The next blow came from the hilt of the knife, connecting with the cheekbone in a sickening crunch and sending the mage flying back on to the floor. Rythians eye began to swell and blacken, his face felt tight and he found it difficult to breath with one half of his nose swollen and his mouth covered by the thick and heavy cloth of his scarf.  
"You?"  
Lalnable slumped to the floor, his frenzied attack leaving him drained and unsatisfied. Kicking Rythian onto his side, he watched the mage struggle for breath feeling little of the pleasure he usually did in watching his quarry die. Rythian was infuriatingly quiet for a man fighting for his life. Normally there was screaming, begging, some poor sods thought it best to try to fight him. He preferred it that way. But Rythian. Rythian who he had been so looking forward to killing had stood in front of him and just taken the beating. Lalnable clenched a fist as he even thought about how inconsiderate he was in continuing to fight for breath.

It was because of the quiet the Lalnable didn't miss when Rythian mumbled something. Realising the scarf was potentially muffling some prospective pleading, begging or crying, Lalnable reached forward quickly, pulling down the fabric with a surprising amount of gentleness. Rythians voice was still quiet but Lalnable didn't bother getting closer, he could hear well enough.  
"You ask too many, too many of the wrong. Wrong questions.", Rythian managed to say through his laboured breathing. This was not what Lalnable had expected. He scoffed.  
"Oh yeah?", he dismissed, playing a little with the white bone blade that was dripping with red. Scraping the undamaged portion of his face against the floor, Rythian managed to nod.  
"Should've. Should've asked..."  
A coughing fit interrupted the mage in his soliloquy. Rich dark blood stuck in his throat and lightly peppered the oak floorboards he lay on. Lalnable looked at him, waiting for him to continue.  
"How I know...", Rythian finally managed to get out, his face sticky with his own blood and his breathing becoming increasingly difficult. Lalnable's mind rushed at the potential information that he could of missed out on. The only thing he couldn't account for was how had Rythian known he was coming? And, well, could that be because the ol' boy was a little paranoid, Lalnable thought, and concluded that he hadn't missed anything. His eyes met Rythians with the faintest flicker of confusion, uncomprehending what he had missed. Rythians eyes flashed with pity as he tried to speak again.  
"How I know so much about clones."  
If the flash of pity in the mages eyes wasn't enough to incite a further frenzied rage, the mere suggestion that he had been denied his intended target but a lowly dupe of all things was enough for any coherent thought of rationality to disappear from Lalnable's head as his anger took over. Discarding his knife, Lalnable brought up his fist and ploughed it into Rythians face, making sure to connect with the broken area he'd inflicted earlier. He kept punching. He didn't stop when he heard the grating noise of bones breaking. He didn't stop when a tooth embedded itself into his knuckles. He didn't stop when crushed eyeball matter started to mingle with the blood on his hand. He didn't stop when Rythian had stopped breathing. He didn't stop when his arm got tired.  
He stopped when he felt the splinter of the wooden floor prickle at his skin. Rocking back onto his heels, he surveyed the destruction that fell from his hands and felt empty. The glorious sight of Rythian, broken beyond repair, did not leave him with any sense of satisfaction. Instead he felt a little like crying, even if he refused to admit it to himself.  
He'd have to burn the place. Not his style but he couldn't bare to leave any remainder of his failure to exist, taunting him forever. His memories alone would be bad enough. He stared at the broken mess that used to be a face, maintaining eye contact despite there being little there.  
Unwelcome feeling flooded him, while his breathing refused to even out and his eyes grew wet.  
A softer tone of voice escaped him as a question that would remain unanswered rang out in the silence of the dead man's home.

"Why did you keep calling me Lalna?"


End file.
